Jessica Ennis-Hill on the moment she won Olympic gold
Desert Island Discs

Jessica Ennis-Hill on the moment she won Olympic gold

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 1, 20262 min
  • Interview
  • Sport

The Olympic heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill was cast away by Lauren Laverne in 2021. She recalls pushing herself in her final event at the London 2012 Olympics, the 800-metre race, and how throwing her hands up in the air as she crossed the finish line had not been part of the plan. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.

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Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne. Welcome to Desert Island Discs postcards where we share funny,

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What cast away today is the Olympic champion hept athlete Jessica Ennis Hill. When I spoke

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0:00

Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne. Welcome to Desert Island Discs postcards where we share funny, moving and memorable moments directly from our desert island with you every weekday. What cast away today is the Olympic champion hept athlete Jessica Ennis Hill. When I spoke to her in 2021, she told me how she approached her final event at the London 2012 Olympics,

0:36

the 800 metres. There was no point in just jogging around and doing it half-heartedly. I wanted to push myself as hard as I could and have a great score and have that finish that I really wanted at the end of two really tough days and the past few years of getting to that point as well.

0:56

And there is this iconic image of you with your arms stretched out wide crossing the finish line after those two exhausting days of competition and you can see in the background you know your rivals the faces are contorted with the effort and the pain of all of it but you just look completely serene it's almost like you're flying it's like a titanic moment arms out you know

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